The Lost Ones
by Alpenwolf
Summary: Torn from time, torn from home, they are all lost in a world similar to their own, but at the same time so very different. The universe is up to some ride and its passengers are vastly unaware of it. Thrown into the ride, into this new world, they have no choice but to find their own way. Otherwise survival might not be possible. Not for them and not for everyone else.
1. Beginning Again

The Lost Ones  


by Alpenwolf

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Mass Effect, but I like to play quite a bit with the Mass Effect Universe. I hope you won't hold that against me.

_Torn from time, torn from home, they are all lost in a world similar to their own, but at the same time so very different. The universe is up to some ride and its passengers are vastly unaware of it. Thrown into the ride, into this new world, they have no choice but to find their own way. Otherwise survival might not be possible. Not for them and not for everyone else.  
_

Before we go to the warnings that I feel are appropriate for this story there are some other things I want to say. The warnings aren't anything drastic I assure you. Just some basic things I feel like you should know. About the other things ... well ... I will be referencing some stories I have come across in this story. I think about them as some kind of tributes to those stories. While most tributes will have been written with the knowledge of them being tributes I'm pretty sure that some will happen coincidentally.

I'm not going to publish any chapter of this story "hot off the press" as they like to say. The time span between first finishing a chapter and actually publishing it can take a few weeks. I'm using the time inbetween to edit and correct any mistakes I might find. I do hope you can understand my reasoning, since most of you are fellow writers as well.

Another thing I want to say is that I'm thanking the wonderful **Graceyn **once again for introducing yWriter to me. It greatly helps me with keeping track of my own story. Read the story and you will know what I mean, I hope.

Last but not least, this chapter was written without a beta. Without anyone looking at my work beforehand. So any and all mistakes are all but of my own doing.

**Warnings:**

First of all, I consider this story AU. While many situations will be canon some others will be hard to consider canon. So I suggest you consider this story to be AU, just to be on the safe side.

Second, there will be OCs. Some might say that the home of OCs are AU stories. That certainly is true, to some degree, but I assure you that this isn't the case everytime. If you imagine and give Councilor Tevos a secretary this person will certainly be an OC, but it doesn't mean that the story has to be AU.

Third, I have some strange habits while writing. Not what you might think by that now. In some cases I'm just very good at delaying some things, like not giving the reader the name of some characters. In some cases it will take several chapter between introducing a new character and learning the characters name.

Fourth, what's in a name? Nothing and everything. People have birth names and nicknames of sorts, some even have chosen names. I do hope you keep that in mind while reading it, because some people have a few ways to be addressed. Meaning multiple nicknames and/or second names.

Fifth, I am going to switch between perspectives and places quite often. Places and people will change in a chapter but also between chapters sometimes. For example from Omega to the Citadel and back to Omega. I try to have everything lined up in time, but sometimes two or more events and/or viewpoints will happen at the same time or as close to it as it gets.

Sixth, while english is not my first language I do have learned quite a bit in the last years. I just want you to be aware of the possibilites that I might be mixing US english and UK english somewhat. I do not mean harm or offence in any way, but since both variants of english are influencing my life I have probably learned to use them without noticing the difference anymore.

Anyway, without further ado the story starts now.

* * *

**Exodus Cluster, Utopia System, Eden Prime**

A bird was singing in the trees around her, finally waking her but her eyes stayed closed. Denying the world's suggestion that it was about time to stand up and start the day in all its youthfullness. A few seconds later another bird answered the first one. One after another more and more birds started singing before they started to fly away. Her hands were caressed by the touch of the morning dew on the grass. A butterfly was sitting on her nose, greeting and tickling her at the same time. She didn't care and stayed in her position, lying down in the grass and liked the feeling of the sun's first shafts of sunlight on this beautiful morning. She silently sighed in bless. It felt good to lie down in the grass and doing nothing for once.

Though it felt good something bothered her. Was it the butterfly on her nose?

No, she found she quite liked the tickling. Was it the morning dew on her hands?

No, the cool breeze of the wind and the water felt good on her. It gave her the feeling that it would become a beautiful day later on. Was it the absence of sounds?

She thought about it for a few minutes and afterwards the answer was clear to her. While she was used to silence in her workline, which sometimes bothered her a bit, she wasn't bothered by it now. What it was then that bothered her? Was it because she was doing nothing? Was she supposed to do something? No, this was one of her free days, she had no plans for today that she could remember.

Frustrated she opened her eyes for the first time on this day and closed them almost immediately again.

"Too damn bright." she mumbled standing up, ignoring the angry buzzing of the butterfly who had to let go of her. "Where is the damn button to stop the simulation? Come to me. Come to mama you damn button." she mumbled while slowly going in the direction she remembered where it was. Her eyes were still closed as she started searching.

* * *

**Exodus Cluster, Utopia System, SSV Normandy SR-1**

"All systems are reading normal, Internal Emission Sinks are active, drift is ... just under 1500 kilometers."

"1500 is good. Your captain will be pleased." A low, slightly tingling and alien voice, that somehow suggested some kind of deeper meaning to him, replied. Nihlus Kryik, a turian. A guest on this ship and also a Spectre. A special group of individuals that were selected by the Citadel Council, the governing body of the Citadel, the largest and most important space station ever built in space.

To Jeff 'Joker' Moreau it was little more than a place with the most self-important, most stuck-up people in existence. While he knew that getting on the bad side of the Council wasn't a good move in itself, it didn't stop him from distrusting anything that screamed 'Bullshit Politics' to him, which the Council clearly did. Of course he also knew he was biased having never ever had to do with them directly and he clearly hoped it would stay this way. Except the order of his higher ups to let this one Spectre on board, which clearly was an order from the Council otherwise he suspected that he would have never been allowed on board, even with his 'Spectre-can-go-and-do-anything'-wild card.

The thick silence that had followed the turians disappearance was going on his nerves and so he said the first thing that came to his mind. "I hate that guy."

The human male sitting next to him raised his eyebrows and replied. "Nihlus pays you a compliment and you hate him? Sounds reasonable."

Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. In Jeff's eyes he was one of the few decent marines he had ever met. Calm and professional and he didn't look at him with pity in his eyes. He hated pity. He was no helpless little baby. His bones may be weak and break at the slightest touch, but he was still no helpless baby. He had shown himself and everyone else that it wasn't just mindful wishing. He was the best damn pilot in the galaxy and he was damn proud of it.

"Compliment? 1500 isn't just good, it's amazing. It's like - "And so he began a colourful and long elaboration of why it was amazing and at the same time to annoy and bore the Lieutenant next to him, who was way to polite to interrupt him. The only thing that stopped him was as the intercom lit up and the voice of the Captain told him to inform Commander Richford-Shepard that he was needed in the comm room.

Following the order, he searched for the life signs of the Commander. Surprisingly, he was standing next to their navigation officer, Charles Pressly. Opening a comm link with the Commander he told him that he was being expected in the comm room. He thanked Jeff, before closing the comm link and exchanging a few words. Jeff didn't know what he exactly said to Pressly, but he guessed that he was excusing himself by the way he left him shortly afterwards.

"Don't you have the distinct feeling that something is missing here? I have quite the feeling that we should have been interrupted some time earlier." Kaidan suddenly spoke up.

"We have a Spectre on board, of course something is amiss." Jeff replied off-handedly.

Kaidan rolled his eyes. "Maybe, but I have the feeling there is more."

Jeff made no reply to that. He felt the same way. While it was true that the Spectre on board unnerved him, it shouldn't be enough to make him feel so ... so defenceless. Like he was sent into a firefight on a cold, freezing planet with only a pistol and beach clothes for protection. He had the distinct feeling that this was mission, whatever it really was, was going to end bigger than anyone could imagine.

He didn't know at that time, but he was right. This was just the beginning and they would need all the help they could get and help they would get, but in very unexpected ways.

* * *

**Exodus Cluster, Utopia System, Eden Prime**

The human female growled at herself and at her surroundings in frustration. While the simulated nature had felt good to wake up in she would like to go back to her world, the confinements of her work room where she would like to continue the work on her latest essay.

Gulping down the latest curses that threatened to leave her mouth, she focused on the more pressing matter. Why couldn't she find the damn button or any wall at all? Had she accidently changed the settings of the simulation before going to bed last night? That could explain why she wasn't finding any wall. Tech was so advanced that a simulation of any sort could make the 'room' larger than it was in real life, but she yanked back that thought where it belonged. Into the bin. She never had changed the settings of the simulations in such a way and her siblings -

_The door to her room suddenly bursted open, more like exploded with the force behind the biotic push behind it. She turned angrily at having to pay once again for repairs to her home. The target of her ever growing ire hadn't had even the slightest intention of hiding, the blue biotic aura shone easily through the dust that the assault on the door had produced and was just about to settle down. She immediately and easily recognized the door-assassin and that sparked her ire even higher, but the door-assassin made no movement to stop or apologize like she usually did, rather she moved her hands, still alighted by the blue biotic aura, towards her and the last thing she saw was blue before everything faded to black._

_"What was that?"_ she wondered as she stumbled back as those pictures had left her mind as fast as they had suddenly invaded her. A memory of sorts? Recalling the first pictures in her mind she actually recognized her work room before the door had been blown up by her sister. Even though she was covered in dust and in combination with the biotic aura made it hard to see details she certainly recognized the petite form of her sister. Which made her wonder why her sister had been barging in like that.

While she and her siblings were very different and her being by far the youngest of the lot, they loved each other greatly. They wouldn't do something drastic like destroying her doors without any good reason. They just wanted to protect her since unlike them she wasn't a figher and didn't have an ounce of biotic abilites.

That also explained why she didn't find the button to end the simulation or any wall. She wasn't in her home anymore. They had brought her somewhere else though she didn't know why or where. She still trusted them, unconditionally.

Sighing loudly she looked around and took, for the first time in this day, her surrounds really in. The wild growing grass beneath her feet. The singing and flying birds in the sky. The white trees behind her and the snowy mountains in horizon. She sighed in relief, because she knew where she was. She had recognized the trees, the birds and most important of all the shape of the mountains on the horizon. She was still on Eden Prime, her birth and home planet. This outcome really flooded her veins with relief, they hadn't taken her custody to some other planet while she was unsconscious. They had dared to do that once and she hadn't been amused to having been waken up just a feet away from a stream of hot and scourching magma. She still could somewhat recall her little rant about that one morning. Her parents had also made it quite clear what they had thought about it.

That hadn't been one of her best days. Even now, some years later, the memory of that day frightened her and she fought to put it quickly back in one of her mental cages. Once it was put back where it couldn't hurt or scare her anymore, her eyes were drawn to the horizon.

She didn't knew why, but something about the mountains was starting to bother her. It felt as if something was amiss, as if she had overlooked something important. Something her senses had noticed but her mind had refused to acknowledge. This inner fight was what had alarmed her and now she was trying her best in finding out what bothered her now. Or was it what still bothered her? She didn't know but it certainly had something to do with the mountains. Though were they the solution, the question or both at once? She didn't know but her researcher mind was hell-bent on finding the answer.

* * *

**Omega Nebula, Sahrabarik System, Omega**

A lone person was lying on a roof, looking through the scope of a newly acquired sniper rifle. Her targets, completely unaware of her intentions or her position were leisurely going their ways, since the roof she was lying on was hidden in the shadows. The shadow of the buildings next to it made it hard to spot her, but she never made a move to pull the trigger. This was after all Omega and while one could find targets easily here, it also meant that many of them were armed and armoured. Especially in districts that were run by one of the bigger mercenary groups, like the one she was in now.

From her position in the shadows she could see at least three Blue Suns snipers that were observing this district, but those weren't the only ones. Before she had gone hiding she had seen two others and she was certain there was another one she hadn't seen yet. A feeling of sorts and she had learned to trust her feelings in this.

Those three she could see from her position were good. She had seen those three in particular in action once and she was still somewhat amazed by their abilities.

Someone from a minor rival mercenary group had a few days ago started trouble in this district. He had been her target and she had been following him through the crowd. Hoping to get to some place with less audience and less casualties if something went wrong, but suddenly he pulled out his pistol and started shooting on a passing Vorcha.

It had taken her five seconds to close the distance to a firing range, but by then he had already been dead. Not that he wouldn't have died anyway, but the speed of the death was astounding, even more so were the three holes in his armour. Each one of them was deadly alone, combined even more so. She had looked up, like some others in the crowd. Her experience and age had helped that day to find the shooters. Even if the snipers had closely watched him since he entered the district it was still a very damn good work in her mind. Ever since then she had been stalking them and had started to be wary of them, as they probably were now. Which would explain the higher sniper concentration and the higher concentration of Blue Suns in this district.

She didn't make a move to pull the trigger, because she wasn't sure if she could get out of there fast enough. Her death or any injury at all were at this time unacceptable. It was already 2183 CE after all, the year in which it all would start. She couldn't afford to be out of the game even if it meant letting her targets go. Stowing the sniper away and shifting further back into the shadows the asari silently vowed to start paying more attention to the news. She needed to know when it was time to play her part.

* * *

**Exodus Cluster, Utopia System, Eden Prime**

"This can't be!" The human exclaimed loudly to the world. She had found the answer, the reason why she had been so bothered by the mountains. It wasn't like her earlier deductions were wrong. She was on Eden Prime, there was no doubt about that. The point she couldn't explain and that scared her to death was that here, exactly were she stood was supposed to be a house. Her house to be precise, but it wasn't there. Neither her house nor the houses of her neighbours. As if they never had been here at all. There was only nature around her. Not a sign of civilisation at all.

She had one conclusion, one answer, and it scared her. It scared her to death, almost. Her answer was scientifically impossible after all. It was just impossible, but somehow it had happened anyway. The reason, the only possible, but still very impossible conclusion was that she had left her timeline. Or in other words, she had travelled through the times, though the question was future or past? How far into the past or into the future? Was there a civilization on this planet? Was it human, prothean or something else? Something even more foreign?

In whichever timeline she was now, the universe must have decided to give her an answer to at least two of her questions. Something was descending from the sky. Something she had only seen in pictures or in vids. Something she had only heard about in stories. The same something that had replaced the boogeyman in her generation.

A lone Reaper was descending from the sky. Like a silent roar, a sound pierced through her mind, interrupting and stopping any and all thoughts. It was strong, unmoving like a rock and at the same time unseizable. And of course it was over as soon as it had started, but it was so strong, so imposing that it took her half a minute to even notice that it was over.

As soon as she noticed it, she started moving. She hadn't any plan, but she had the distinct feeling that she needed to get moving now, if she wanted to have a chance of ever leaving this planet alive. And so she was running and the direction she choose to run to was one that most people wouldn't even dare to think about. She was running straight to the Reaper. Whatever it wanted here it was her goal. Scratch that thought. There was a high probality that it was here to do but one thing. The one thing Reapers were made for. Decimating, killing and harvesting one and any civilization that was developed high enough. In conclusion that meant this civilization, whatever it actually was, was a spare-faring civilization and therefore she would have a means to leave this planet.

She knew that this plan, if one wanted to call it that, wasn't very good. But she had her reasons. Possibly a bad reason, very possible so but that wouldn't stop her. This was maybe the only proof that she was her parent's child and as such she would go down fighting and not waiting for death to creep up upon her. That would've been insulting.

* * *

**A/N:** I know this wasn't exactly much to begin with, but if it helps think of this as a prologue of sorts.

Fun fact: The chapter title "Beginning again" was the title of an AMV(Anime Music Video) and a song that I've recently found. I have found myself growing to like it. I do think it fits the chapter quite well.

The last sentence, was obviously stolen from Kal'Reegar on Haestrom, and once again I found it quite fitting.

Your thoughts? I would appreciate hearing them.


	2. Say Hello to the alien

**Exodus Cluster, Utopia System, Eden Prime**

Occasionally she could hear a bird cry or the zirping of some insects or the sounds of some native animals, but she didn't pay them any mind. They were not dangerous to humans. They prefered to stay away from human settlings and so the settlers, most of them farmers, didn't make a habit of hunting them down. Those that did would face heavy punishment and reconcillation for endangering the wild life of Eden Prime. Most people on this planet tended to think highly of nature's rights, protecting the animals rights and giving those a sound beating that didn't respect nature enough. Even the local laws were highly in favor of nature. Making Eden Prime not only one of the most idyllic agrarian worlds, but also a heaven for the animals living on it.

The natural sounds of Eden Prime, sounds she was accustomed to, never made her stop in her run, but something else did. Something that she had heard before, on some other planets, occasionally on some space stations, but never ever here. While it sounded familiar, while she knew exactly what she was hearing, it still sounded alien to her. Like it was not supposed to be here.

_"Trust your instincts."_

Another memory had invaded her mind, though thankfully this time it was a short one. A single and simple phrase. While she was more of a logic person, she had met enough instinct people in basic. Most of them getting in trouble ever so often and - she shook her head slightly. This was not the time for those thoughts, since her instincts were practically **yelling** at her. They yelled danger ahead to her. While she couldn't see any danger ahead, she still adjusted her track and went to hide behind the nearest tree she could see. Save was save after all.

Hiding behind it, she waited for this ominous feeling of danger creeping up on her to leave her alone, but that didn't happen. It rather got stronger she longer she stood there. Out of pure instinct she put her pistol in her hands and enlarged it, just as something entered her peripheral view. Out of pure instinct, she jumped away and pulled the trigger again and again and again.

Landing ungracefully in the dirt she finally saw what had her instincts running into overdrive. A geth. A single geth was lying there, next to the tree, equipped with an old type of an assault rifle and holes in his armour. Holes she had made. All lights on the geth were out, indicating that he Had died.

She had seen geth earlier, but never on a human colony. Even after the end of the quarian-geth war and after the end of the reaper war, they still kept to themselves. On Rannoch and other old quarian colonies. Some of them were present at space stations at all times, but neither on any not-quarian colony. Not even during the fight for Earth and the Citadel. Even then they choose to stay in space and fight the Reaper ships as far as she knew.

Maybe it had something to do with her uncle not only destroying the Reapers, but also destroying the geth when the Crucible had fired? She didn't know, but seeing a dead geth next to her made her uneasy. Probably because both of them didn't belong here, were not supposed to be here, but were still there nonetheless.

She slowly approached the geth, pistol ready to shoot at a moments notice. Even with all the lights out she figured it was better to be safe then sorry. While her adrenaline and her instincts were slowing down, she still was wary of it. She shot it a few more times, just for goods measure before she decided to leave this place. Wary of other geth on their way or something else what might be lurking around here.

Why was a geth here anyway? Did she awake in a time where the geth had become hostile again? Had they started to kill all civilizations of? But why had she seen a Reaper then? Had the geth collective repaired them? Had they been indoctrinated again? What was going on here?

Those were the thoughts of the human as she made her way through the forest, more wary and aware of her surroundings than she was used to. She wasn't sure if she liked it or not.

* * *

**Serpent Nebula, Widow System, Citadel**

Everyone was looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to start his speech, when suddenly an asari in the crowd collapsed. He didn't thought much about it at first. She probably hadn't slept enough and neglected to eat, while she had been waiting for him. Wasn't the first time something like this had happened. But then another asari fell down to her knees. Like a domino effect the other asari were all slowly falling to their knees. Once all of them were down, the other races followed suit. Beginning with the drell and ending with the batarians. As soon as everyone was onto their knees he saw the first asari opening her mouth and closing again, like a gasping fish. All the others quickly followed suit.

He looked incomprehensible at them, wondering what was happening here, when all of a sudden they started screaming, loudly. And as if the screams were a starting signal, some beings he had never ever encountered or heard about suddenly entered the place. Everyone of them were clothed similar to asari in c-sec clothes and it made sense, in some bizarre way of thinking. Those beings looked similar to asari, if one exchanged the blue skin to a brown tone and exchanged the fringe-like things on their head with some kind of fur. To top it off, all of those aliens were equipped with heavy pistols or rifles, trained solely on him.

They slowly surrounded him and once the circle shrank to a certain size the screaming stopped as abruptly as it had started. One of these aliens then started to talk, but he didn't understand him, or was it her? The speaking alien reminded him of an asari, with the way its chest had some kind of hills, while some of the other aliens lacked them. One of the other aliens responded and he still couldn't understand, but he had the feeling he wouldn't have liked it anyway. The first one spoke again and glared in his direction.

"I don't understand." he replied, trying to be polite and helpful. He would like to get out of here alive and possibly with a stable mind, unlike those others on their knees next to him and them. But he had the feeling that he had said the wrong thing, the glare of the female intensified as she barked something at him, or was it at them?, as he could hear the tell-tale of a few pulled triggers.

The feeling that something was very wrong was intensified as soon as he felt the bullets enter his body. Red blood puring out of the wounds inflicted by the aliens was the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness.

"Stupid dream." he mumbled angrily as he woke up. He didn't get why he had been dreaming so bad lately. In the last few weeks his dreams were in one aspekt similar. He died in them. Blusted to smitherens by a krogan shotgun, strangled to death by a hanar, stabbed to death by a drell from behind, tortured for hours and then finally killed by his own people. Pulverized by a biotic attack from a group of asari, a coordinated group attack of quarians and geths, or a chivvy by the turians. There were others of course, but those were the most reappearing ones. Though the last dream was disconcerting.

"Am I now starting to imagine new races to kill me in my dreams?" he asked the silent room as he dressed himself.

He sighed inwardly. This wasn't the time to be musing about dreams or about his mind or his dream-deaths. He had a meeting to attend to in, what was the time?, just thirty minutes. He had no time to dwell on it nor on the fact that he had slept way too long. Maybe he should go to a someone who specialised in bad dreams?

"Na." he thought. That would make him only a target for mockery and he had a certain image to uphold anyway if he ever wanted to be his father's legacy. And being that was his one and only goal in his life, failing it wasn't acceptable. Not in the least.

Looking at the clock again, he saw that the meeting was due in twenty eight minutes. He quickly refocused his thoughts on the task at hand and left his bedroom, entered the bathroom for a quick morning session before purposefully striding through the hall towards the door to his apartment when said door opened itself and two of the aliens from his dreams, both of them clothed in official c-sec uniforms, entered his apartment.

Blinking and gobsmacked he stopped midway and just stared at them uncomprehendingly. One of them moved its mouth and sounds escaped it, but they never reached his ears. At least nothing he could understand anyway.

Like in his dream he noticed the differences between them, marking them as a female and a male in his mind. A second later he wondered if he was caught up in another dream of his right now. There was only one way to find out and so he moved one of his hands slightly. He noticed that the female alien had enlarged her pistol and trained it on him, but he paid it no mind as he started to pinch himself again and again as the aliens in front of him dared to stay where they were.

Strange noises entered his ears and looking back at the aliens, he figured that they were speaking to him. They wanted something from him, but unfortunately he didn't understand even one word they uttered.

"I'm sorry." He said honestly. "But I have no idea what you are saying."

To his surprise the female alien barked something angrily at him, while her partner just looked at him confused and a bit ... was that a hint of hatred in his eyes? He hadn't ever seen those aliens beforehand, how could they hate him? That was absurd, even without considering that those aliens had just marshed into his apartment. Even without considering that he didn't understand the situation he was in at all. Which was a question he liked to indulge further, but he had no time for that now. There was a meeting he had to attend to in ... in twenty three minutes. An important one at that, one he couldn't dare to miss even with strange aliens barging into his apartment. Aliens that had obviously stolen c-sec uniforms and weapons from some hard working officers.

"I'm sorry, but I have a meeting to attent to ... in twenty two minutes. I will have to take my leave now." he said, but he never got to move a step since an asari entered at this moment the apartment. The same asari that he had seen in his last dream. The one that had been the first one to fall on her knees and to scream at him.

"What takes so long to take this criminal out of my apartment? And why isn't he in handcuffs already?" She demanded to know, glaring at him and at the two aliens angrily.

"What do you mean? Your apartment? This apartment is mine. It's my home. I have been living here for the last five years and I don't have the slightest intention of giving it up!" he replied rather harshly. The aliens themselves were confusing and irritating, but this ... this asari took it to another level. He had been patient and polite, but his patience had run out now. He would not let this asari and her pets, for nothing else they could be, take this apartment from him. This apartment had been given to him by his father once the latter had given way for a new Councilor in his place.

That last thought made him think. It also provided him with an explanation. This wasn't about his apartment or him, or at best it was just indirectly about him. This was about his father, and this asari, probably hired by the salarian or asari Councilor, was paid to find dirt on the former batarian Councilor or the batarian hegemony. To make the batarian position weaker and the others stronger?

While he knew how dirty politics could be, had learned all of it from his father, he never had to descend to that level in his career. Oh, he could do it if he needed to, but he didn't wanted to. He wanted to show the galaxy that politics could be honest and true and not some just backhanded deals no one made any effort to actually comply. Sometimes it was no wonder why the galaxy was slowly growing apart with that mindset. They didn't even made any effort to stop from growing apart. Oh, sure they talked about peace all day, talked about compromises every other day, but at the same time he just knew that they were secretly building more and more ships. Preparing for war. All of them.

He never had paid any heed to those tactics since it was open secret that the turians feared the batarian progress, or at least military-wise. Feeling threatened by them and that they might lose their position as the galaxies primal defender. The batarian hegemony didn't want the position, but the turians didn't need to know it and so he and the batarian Councilor played their part in the galactic politic.

But now ... now they had gone too far and he would show them not only how dirty politic could be, but also how bloody.

* * *

**Exodus Cluster, Utopia System, Eden Prime**

It was eerily silent, though one could occasionally hear the characteristic beeping of a geth while they worked on a glas tank, trying to get it open. One female human was observing them and was wondering about a few things. Why was a heavily encripted glas tank that even gave the geth pause on Eden Prime? What was in it? Why were the geth trying to get it open? Where were the humans? The one who were alive anyway?

She had come across a few human corpses on her way which answered some of her earlier question, but not all of them. Not all civilizations had been eridicated, that proved the human corpses she had seen. Though she still didn't know where she was. Future or past? She didn't even know what she considered the worse option, since both of them had their disadvantages. But one of the more pressing questions was how she could save whatever was inside the glas tank. Her view was a bit obscured by the geth.

That was the moment a long and loud hiss could be heard. Startled she took a step out of her hiding spot and saw steam coming out of the glas tank. The liquid inside it was also leaving the capsule inside, making the ground near the geth wet. She knew that she hadn't had so much time left anymore. It was now or never. It was definitely now or never as the tank slowly started to open up.

She hoped, really hoped, that her basic training and the moment of surprise would be enough to protect whatever was inside it. With those thoughts in her head she trained her pistol on the geth and pulled the trigger.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we have Chapter Two. One person more in the loop. The poor batarian.

I have not really much to say this time. Except that there are two stories I would like to recommend to you. :) The first one is **HugoCogs** "Once More Unto The Breach". A story that deals with a Control ending, alive FemShepard and changing reapers. That's all I'm saying for now. :) The second one would be **Graceyn's** "If It Meant Living"-Series. This series starts before Mass Effect and goes even beyond Mass Effect 3.

Your thoughts about the story so far? I would appreciate hearing them.


	3. What's a suit rat?

**Serpent Nebula, Widow System, Citadel**

Somewhere in the lower wards of the Zakera district a lone quarian was walking with precision and determination. She had a goal. A goal that was no different from the usual day to day live from the others around her. She was going to work. To feel alive, to feel useful to the galactic society and community. There was nothing more she desired. That was all she had ever wanted and now picture her surprise and utter confusion as she was greeted by someone she knew in unexptected ways. Someone she even had had feelings for at some other time.

"Suit rat! What the heck are you thinking you are doing down here?"

The quarian blinked behind her visor at the turian, who was staying now in front of her. Disgust clearly visible on his face. She knew that at the end she was the one ... who had ended their blossoming relationship. She was confused at how fast his emotions must have changed. He had been still friendly with her yesterday and now he looked at her ... like she was some kind of disease? ... but there was something more important she felt she needed to know. And so she decided to voice it.

"What's a suit rat?"

The turian blinked. He didn't think he would ever hear this question. He had never anticipated the ... the possibility of this question. It was just a word. An insult. A word used precisely for ... for those beggars and thieves. A word to show that they weren't worth the time. A word to show that they didn't deserve to be trusted. A word to show what they thought of them. A word that had been invented decades ago. Somewhere close to the begin of the quarian exile. Somewhere around the first two decades, as far as he knew.

"You are a suit rat, suit rat. Filthy quarian. Beggar. Thief. Not worth our time. Go. Shoo! Lest we call C-Sec. Prison cell. Only acceptable place for your kind on Citadel. " A salarian said to her. He had been showing up from a door that was just a short way in front of her. Apparently her question had called him out. The answer in itself was ... troublesome in the least. Had the quarian Councilor somehow made a stupid move? Made them somehow all lose their place on the Citadel and she hadn't got the memo? Was that kind of thing even possible she wondered? She didn't knew. She had never paid much attention to politics. She went to elections as most other quarians did, looked a little more closely at the ... projected goals of the eligible candidates at those times. But apart of that, she continued, much to the dismay of her family, to stay away from politics as best as she could. Concentrating on other parts of her life. So it wouldn't be so ... surprising if she actually missed the memo.

"Ten Seconds. Then you will be not here. Hopefully elsewhere. Possibly in custody of c-sec. Matters not. Just away." The salarian, whom she didn't know, said or better ordered her. That she didn't know him was also odd to her. She had thought she had gotten to know everyone in this little company, but apparently she was wrong. Regardless, she had no intention of giving her parents more trouble and so she left. In search for an answer. In search for the answer to this situation. She wanted to know what had happened and what she had missed.

* * *

**Exodus Cluster, Utopia System, Eden Prime**

Commander Richford-Shepard was livid. He had seen many things in his life, but nothing, really nothing, had prepared him for this situation. Nothing at all. Seeing people, humans, pierced by some kind of ... god-forbidden metallic devices that had turned them into some kind of husks. Empty shells of their former self. Shells that had started to attack him and his men as soon as they saw them. Confused, utterly confused, at their first meeting they had hesitated to attack. And this hesitation gave those husks a chance, a chance that they otherwise might have never gotten.

The husks used their deformed hands that now sprouted razor sharp claws to not only kill Corporal Richard Lewis Jenkins but also Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. It was just pure luck that he had gotten his shotgun in position in time, before they could have the chance to gouge his eyes out or do something more ... finishing-ly. Ending his life with carving out his heart for one.

No intel about the enemy and now two marines under his command were dead. He should really start to refuse those missions. Akuze had been ... similar and at the same time different. No real intel until they got slaughtered and he alone survived. Eden Prime seemed to evolve in the same direction.

Granted, he hadn't known Jenkins and Alenko well. They only had exchanged a few words, not enough to really know them. On Akuze, he hadn't been the Commanding Officer but he had known the group. He had been part of the troop for quite same time. Had gotten to know them, something those ... those husks had taken from him. And whoever was behind those transformations was to be blamed for the death of the marines next to him and they would pay. Heavily. Of that he would make sure.

But for now he would do something else. He would make sure that they hadn't died in vain. He would make sure that their deaths would be honored. In the only way he knew. By completing the mission he had gotten from Captain Anderson. Getting to the beacon and making sure it was safely transported to the Normandy before whatever ... before someone else could steal it. Everything else had to wait. At least for now.

* * *

**Serpent Nebula, Widow System, Citadel**

People on the Presidium stopped momentarly in their doing as they watched something unusal going on. A group of c-sec officers were dragging a batarian in a suit, a highly educated and very costly suit, away. The suit alone was confusing, but the more confusing part was the batarian himself. There weren't many batarians at any time on the Citadel due to their self-exposed exile. Due to the batarian hegemony losing any trust in the Council and cutting all ties with the council races, most batarians went back to batarian space. If forced or on their own, was a matter of speculation.

If one had watched early and closely enough, when the batarian was still conscious. One could have heard him spouting some nonsense. Utterly insane and crazy nonsense. Most people looked at him in some kind of ... fascination. The presidium was usually quiet and ... proper, but for this one moment, for this one minute or two or five, it wasn't. As soon as the batarian was out of their personal view people resumed their former pace and forgot about it all in the space of a few seconds. All but one single person. One single person that belonged to a race that also was not often seen on the presidium, but no one paid any mind to her since she was good in hiding. There was only one salarian, a former STG agent, who sensed her presence for a second. A second later she had vanished and the salarian was left wondering if he was getting paranoid.

* * *

**Exodus Cluster, Utopia System, Eden Prime**

She couldn't believe it and yet, she had seen it happen. Out of the glas tank had stepped a woman, a human woman, and as soon as she had noticed the geth ... well, in the lack of a better word, she had ... she had started to terminate them. The first geth had lost an arm because the tank woman ripped, **ripped!**, it out of the joint socket. Then she had pulled the rifle out of the arm, put it into her other hand and used both weapons at the same time. With her left hand she beat the geth next to her with it's own arm to death. Her right hand trained the rifle on the other two geth and pulled the trigger. Not one bullet had missed it's target.

In mere seconds the glas tank woman had erased the threat from the geth with a cold precision that reminded the other woman of ... Samara. The old justicar and a member of her extended family. Was it any surprise that she was frightened as the other woman came to her? But those feelings had turned quickly into surprise and confusion the moment that woman saluted and started to talk.

"Private First Class, Prototype Soldier Number 37, Overall soldier Number 3 067 331, reports to duty, Service Chief. May I request your name, Ma'am?"

"Name? Mine?" the woman replied, completely flubbergasted at this point by this ... this situation she had found herself in.

_"Happy Birthday, Doreen!" her father said as he came forward and congratulated her. A big strawberry cake in his big hands, with burning candles on top. Just as she liked it. Her mother stood nearby, arms crossed in front of her chest as if to say 'I don't support this, but I will play along for now' but Doreen could still see the smile on her face and in her eyes. Even her siblings and her extended family were there. All of her friends were there too. All of them were there to celebrate her birthday and for that she was very thankful and grateful._

Doreen blinked once. Twice. Thrice. Trying to get the remains of the memory out of her head, for now at least. Once she was successfull enough to see the impassive stare of the woman before her, she was about to respond, but decided to wait nonetheless. She first took the woman really in. Her skin was pale, very pale, as if she hadn't seen enough sun, or any for a long time, and having been in that glas tank for who knows how long it probably wasn't even very far from the truth. The armour she was wearing reminded her of the standard armour used for the standing troups, but something was definitely different. Maybe it was the fact that it was shining so brightly, as if she never had been in a fight, except with the three geth a minute ago. Maybe it was the absence of all colours, since it was completely black. Maybe it was the private first class signs on her shoulders or just maybe it was a combination of all three or something else entirely that she couldn't put her finger on.

The eyes of the private were purple unlike anything she had ever seen. They were void of any emotion, just staring at her and waiting for ... what for? Her name? Orders?

The hair of that other woman sprouted a multitude of colours. Doreen couldn't say what her base colour was, but if she would have to guess ... well, even then she couldn't say anything about it. Black, red, silver, white, yellow, brown and even blue and purple streaks were the colours of her hair. The hair going whatever direction they wanted to. A tropical nightmare for a every hairdresser she suspected.

"Service Chief Dr. Doreen Vega." she finally replied, giving in to the stare of the other woman. Also acknowledging the other woman's salute by saluting herself.

If her sudden appeareance in this world didn't make her a part of this universe, this one meeting, giving the universe her name surely did it. Now her fate totally rested in this universe. So alike to her home but at the same time ... alien.

* * *

**A/N:** Alright, that was Chapter Three. The shortest chapter so far. With just below 2000 words, excluding this last part of course.

Hoping that I still have a few readers by this point I should probably say something about this chapter. About scene two and four I guess. I can already see people hating me for killing Kaidan off so early. We didn't even leave Eden Prime, didn't even met Ashley so far, and I still killed one of the more important people of the cast. Why? Part of it was simply because I could, another part of it was that this Universe demanded that he should be replaced.

Scene Four, the glas tank woman. I can also see people shaking their heads at me. I only want to say one thing about that or better, about her. She is in some ways similar to Grunt. Both of them were born and made in glas tanks. Bred for war. While Okeer failed in his "programming" of Grunt, the ones behind the woman's programming did not fail. She may be not where she was supposed to be, but she is following her "center programming". At all costs. Nothing more, nothing less.

And last but not least, Dr. Doreen Vega. Yes, that's her name. The name of the first introduced OC in this story. One part of her parentage should be pretty obvious, but the other one shouldn't be so obvious. I wonder who will be the first one to tell me her parent's name correctly?

Your thoughts? I would appreciate hearing them.


	4. Prison Break

**Exodus Cluster, Utopia System, Eden Prime**

Spectre Saren Arterius knew that plans could go haywire at a moment's notice. He had experienced that often enough, in his military career and later in his work as a Spectre. He didn't like it, but he was experienced enough to ... go with the flow ... as humans tended to say. He fought the urge to bash himself for using a human phrase, even if it had been appropriate. And so he did just that as suddenly Nihlus Kryik appeared in front of him. He holds back his surprise and frustration. He didn't like to kill his colleague, but there was no way he could be spared. None whatsoever.

Saren had enough training to neither show his real feelings on his face nor in his voice, subvocals included. It also didn't show on his body language.

"Don't worry about the geth. I've got everything under control." He told him. It was a lie. Saren deep down knew he had nothing under control anymore but he was also in no shape to actually change something about it. Either his plan worked or they were all doomed, and that was unacceptable. He wouldn't allow it. He wouldn't allow the races of the galaxy to be doomed. To become ghosts of extinct races for the next cycle like the protheans did. He couldn't allow that. He just couldn't.

Ever since he knew what had really happened to the protheans, he had tried to find a way around it. Going to the Council about that hadn't been an option, still wasn't and would never be. He knew how they would have reacted. Silently he would have been taken out of the picture, or if that had failed they would have made him look like a madman. Losing any and every credibility he had would have been lost. And that's why ever since then he had been on his own. Trying to find a way without having to alert the Council and thanks to him being a Spectre it had worked so far. He had found a way. A way he would follow till the end. A way for his people and the other races to survive. Even humans. As much as he disliked them, they were a part of this cycle. They were a part of this galaxy and he was a good Spectre. Being a Spectre was something he took pride in. Whatever his feelings about some specific races in the galaxy were, his work ethic told him to protect them all. Humanity included.

'I've got everything under control.' Maybe it was a lie, maybe it wasn't a lie. At best it probably wasn't the complete truth. He didn't have everything under control, but he had some things under control, and he needed to act now to let it stay this way. Nihlus had forced his hand and he said ... goodbye, silently, as he trained his pistol on his head. On the back of his old friend's head, like a coward, but a coward he must be to go through this all.

And then Nihlus moved his arms, upwards, the right arm to shield his eyes from the sun, the left arm pointed at something. Something on a hill and before Saren could even see what Nihlus was pointing at, his body had already moved on its own. His instincts had been screaming at him. Danger ahead. Danger ahead. And so he had obeyed. He ducked and moved in a direction so that Nihlus was between him and whatever was on that hill.

His pistol was still trained on the younger turian's head when Nihlus' head suddenly exploded. He didn't dare to let the surprise get to him and jumped immediately into cover and even then it had been almost too late. A shot pierced his left arm.

A sniper. A damn sniper, and a damn good one at that. That sniper was pinning him down here. If a sniper was up there, then his time was almost over. He had to move fast or it would have been all for nothing. He couldn't allow that. He wouldn't allow that.

"Get that sniper!" he bellowed at the geth around him.

They obeyed and trained fire on the sniper's position, but Saren was still cautious. He moved from cover to cover until he was on his way to that second platform of the spaceport. Only then he would allow himself to let his wariness go, but not by much. He knew he had to act fast now and so he went and gave the remaining geth platform's orders. Counting on them to follow them as fast as they could, which was fast, and hopefully fast enough. He didn't want to have more casualties then there needed to be, though he couldn't deny that another part of him didn't care since it was a human colony.

* * *

**Serpent Nebula, Widow System, Citadel**

Everything was silent and dark, with there being barely enough light to see the way around here. The c-sec officers were silently doing their patrols. The prisoners were either sleeping or were just very silent, thinking about this and that. It was hard to tell in the absence of light. The lone c-sec patrol disappeared around a corner and the drell made her move. Jumping down to the floor, without making a sound, like she had been trained to do. She could have killed all of the prisoners and the c-sec officers as well, but she wasn't here to kill anyone, she was here to rescue someone. A certain someone who was thrown into prison without good reason, at least to her. And her job was it to bring justice to this world, in one way or another. This was one of those times she had to do something outrageous to keep the galaxy from war, sometimes against the orders of her superiors.

"Charros Pazness," she said in the darkness. Her voice barely above a whisper, but the figure in the cell in the front of her stirred. "Charros Pazness," she said again, coming closer. The figure stirred again, but didn't wake up. Not yet, but he needed to wake up before the next patrol would pass his cell. "Charros Pazness," she said for the third time as she opened with often practiced movements the door to his cell. This time he didn't just stir. This time he woke up from his slumber.

"Whaa?" he croaked groggily as he began to wake up in the dark.

The drell waited for him to wake completely up. She needed him awake for what was to come. If that meant waiting a few seconds until he was accustomed to the lack of light, so be it. In that short time span she noticed how his eyes widened with fear and how he tried to get as far away as he could, which with him being a small cell wasn't very much. But then his eyes slowly accustomed to the light and she could finally see recognition in them.

"Spectre Krios?" he asked, surprised.

She nodded slightly when she heard the question. It wasn't that uncommon for a Councilor or those close to one to keep tabs on some Spectres, which is why it didn't surprise her that he recognized her. He was after all the son of a former batarian Councilor. But she also noticed the obvious surprise in his stance. He probably never entertained the thought of being rescued by a Spectre, and even those that entertained that thought were never rescued by one the drell told herself. Most Spectres eliminated some specific people before they could become a threat. While she occasionally did it too, she would rather rescue someone, which made the batarian a very lucky guy in her eyes. Most other Spectres would have let him rot without an order from the Council. She just rescued him.

"Not so loud," she admonished him as she looked around, ready for everything going haywire at a moment's notice. Nothing ever goes as planned. She knew this and silently hoped that he knew this also. The only question left was just which part of her simple plan would fail.

"What are you doing here?"

"Doing my job and that means getting you out of here," she answered his whispered question. His question had been very silent, but thankfully the drell had a good natural hearing which she had strengthened by an operation a few years ago.

She took another look around and a look on her special watch. Seeing the time she knew that they needed to move, fast, before this escape would get ... messy. She wanted to get as much space between them and his prison cell as possible by the time C-sec would notice his escape and start a station wide search for him.

And so she mouthed 'follow me' to the batarian and started moving, hoping that he caught on, which he did. She constantly looked around, ever aware that at every corner trouble could appear and should be expected.

* * *

**Exodus Cluster, Utopia System, Eden Prime**

"I can't get a good shot out of this position, ma'am. The geth are blocking me."

Doreen Vega only listened half-way to the lower ranking marine. She was still trying to get a read on this situation, as having seen Saren or what she assumed had to be him confused and scared the hell out of her. It had been the latest piece of evidence that she had left her time and was now in the past, as crazy as it sounded. It matched all the stories she had heard, read and written about. The giant Reaper, countless geth and two turians on Eden Prime. Except the soldier next to her. She had never been present in one of those stories.

She still couldn't fathom why she was here in the first place. How she had ended up here. Her memory was still fuzzy. There were so many things she still couldn't remember. The names of her parents and siblings, their looks, their careers, their birthdates. Not even her own she could remember, at least not exactly. She only remembered that she was born after the war with the Reapers had been over. Since she had been the youngest she supposed it had to be quite the time difference. All of her siblings had been born after the war.

She had heard so many stories about Eden Prime, it was her home planet after all. She had been born here, like her mother. But there never had been a story where a tank soldier on Eden Prime had been mentioned. She wondered if the geth had killed her in the past and that only her sudden presence in this timeline had changed this outcome. She didn't know, but it was entirely possible. Very possible even, though that left other questions to solve. Who was she? She had called herself 'Prototype Soldier Number 37'. She had never offered a name. Did she have one? Or didn't she? Every time Doreen had asked the answer was the same. 'Number 37' or the other collection of numbers. In the end she figured it didn't matter if she had one or not. She couldn't or wouldn't tell it anyway, so Doreen would have to make up a name for her. Not now, but later. As soon as they had safely left this planet.

"Come on." Doreen said as she stood up, keeping her presence hidden from the shooting geth. "I think I know where he wants to go, and I definitely know how to get there."

* * *

**Serpent Nebula, Widow System, Citadel**

The female quarian was sitting alone in a booth of the Dark Star. She had gotten the answers she had wanted, but they confused her even more. No quarian Councilor? No quarian ambassador? No freaking home planet anymore? Just a flotilla of thousands and thousands of ships flying through the galaxy trying to find another planet to settle on? FOR ALMOST THREE HUNDRED YEARS?! That didn't make any sense to her. None whatsoever.

Her race was getting along just fine with the geth, the geth even had an ambassador while the quarians had a Councilor. They were all well respected ... not hated and discriminated like she was here. It didn't make any sense!

And there was another thing that didn't make any sense to her. A few dozen or a few thousand or a few million or a billion things. She didn't know how many of them were there, but what the fuck were they and why were there so many of them? Everywhere she looked she saw some of them. That wasn't even the worst of it. She couldn't understand a word those strange bipedal creatures said. Not one damn word, but all the others? All the other races? They could, only she was unable to.

And so she could only imagine what those alien females, at least she thought they were females, were doing in the middle of the bar. They had entered a few minutes earlier, one of them was wearing an official C-sec uniform, while the other one was wearing something that resembled the clothes of the other aliens around. Some kind of military uniform? As soon as they were in the bar they had started to immediately shout at the bar fights that had been going on then. She had thought the C-sec alien would be arresting them, being apparently with C-sec and all, but no, she just stood there in the midst of the fighters, talking, together with the other one.

Turians, a few batarians and more of those strange aliens were centered around them, intently listening to what they had to say. She could only imagine what they had to say to them. Probably something about her, as often as one of them was looking over to her.

Confused, frightened and frustrated she just ordered another dextro-beer. Thankful for the fact that the bartenders were nice to her or at least nice enough to gave her what she wanted without any comment.

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, it's a female Drell Spectre named Krios. No, she is not a female Thane Krios. Thane is an assassin, she isn't, though she has the abilities and the training to be one. So be cautious around her.

And finally a big thanks to my beta **DavidJ647** for beta-reading this chapter and correcting some of my mistakes.

Your thoughts to this chapter? I would appreciate hearing it.


End file.
